Love The Exception

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Friday, July 22, 2005

Fading Away

The lifesize Christina Ricci bobblehead hit stores this morning. It's expected to be a big seller with creepy twenty somethings who still fantasize about Wednesday Adams. The stick figure look continues to baffle me.

Put on Your Dancing Shoes

As Dubya nominated Judge John Roberts for the newly vacant SCOTUS seat we all watched as his son gleefully busted some serious moves on national television. Innocent getty jiggy wit' it? Or, perhaps, a brilliant Rovian political ploy to distract us from some of Robert's not so progressive views:

"We continue to believe that Roe was wrongly decided and should be overruled... [T]he Court's conclusions in Roe that there is a fundamental right to an abortion and that government has no compelling interest in protecting prenatal human life throughout pregnancy find no support in the text, structure, or history of the Constitution." -- John Glover Roberts, Jr. - George W. Bush has placed his plan of attack against Roe v. Wade in the capable hands of an All-American. - Tim Dickinson on the RSBlog

On This Nut A Church Was Built

It seems that Scientologists don't like being written about:

When the church learned that Glamour magazine was working on an expose about a former Scientologist for its September issue, it immediately sent two emissaries to Conde Nast headquarters..."In our offices, they demanded to see the story but we declined, noting we don't release stories until they are on stands. They showed up twice more that week with DVD's and books about Scientology and then finally with their comments. During the last visit, the Scientologists saw the latest issue of Glamour with Nicole Kidman on the cover with the tagline tease, 'Nicole opens up about Tom,' and demanded copies." MyWay.com (via Page Six)

After a little delving of my own I came across a few interesting facts about the pseudo-religion:

In reality the church is a hugely profitable global racket that survives by intimidating members and critics in a Mafia-like manner. At times during the past decade, prosecutions against Scientology seemed to be curbing its menace. Eleven top Scientologists, including Hubbard's wife, were sent to prison in the early 1980s for infiltrating, burglarizing and wiretapping more than 100 private and government agencies in attempts to block their investigations...By late 1985, with high-level defectors accusing Hubbard of having stolen as much as $200 million from the church, the IRS was seeking an indictment of Hubbard for tax fraud. Scientology members "worked day and night" shredding documents the IRS sought, according to defector Aznaran, who took part in the scheme. - Time (May 6 1991)

In the late 1940s, pulp writer L. Ron Hubbard declared, "Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion."...Scientology is one of the oldest, wealthiest -- and most dangerous -- of the major "new religions" or cults operating in America today. Some of its fanatic operatives have engaged in burglary, espionage, kidnapping and smear campaigns to further their goals. Says Assistant U.S. Attorney Raymond Banoun, who directed a massive investigation that resulted in conspiracy or theft convictions of nine top Scientology officials in Washington, D.C., last October: "The evidence presented to the court shows brazen criminal campaigns against private and public organizations and individuals. The Scientology officials hid behind claims of religiousliberty while inflicting injuries upon every element of society."

I'm sure the criminal activities have calmed down a bit, but clearly the roots of the religion(?) are a bit skethchy. Now go jump on some couches.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Hate Is As Hate Does

It looks as if the latest incident in London is very minor compared to the tragedy of two weeks ago. One thing, however, has become abundantly clear - the U.K. needs to buckle down and draft better anti-hate legislation. The homegrown terrorist is fast becoming a scary reality and guys like Sheik Omar Bakri aren't helping things any:

The Muslim cleric who last year predicted that al Qaeda would attack London said Wednesday that the British government was partly responsible for the July 7 attacks that killed 56 people. "People look and say I'm responsible; I know the British government is to blame," Sheik Omar Bakri Mohammad told CNN's Nic Robertson. - CNN.com

Hate-mongers shouldn't pass the buck so fast and MUST be held accountable by the gov't for their words. A few juicy tidbits from/about Sheik Bakri:

If Europe fails to heed Mr. bin Laden's offer of a truce — provided that all foreign troops are withdrawn from Iraq in three months — Muslims will no longer be restrained from attacking the Western countries that play host to them, the sheik said. "All Muslims of the West will be obliged," he said, to "become his sword" in a new battle. Europeans take heed, he added, saying, "It is foolish to fight people who want death — that is what they are looking for." - NY Times (April 26, 2004)

Ooh, here's another enlightened comment:

The radical leader has recently defended the Madrid bombers and told young British Muslims, some as young as ten, that they must "kill and be killed" for Islam; that "suicide bombers would be guaranteed a place in paradise"; and even that they should consider "flying a plane into 10 Downing Street"..."Prepare as much as you can from strength and from force to terrorise - because terrorism it is part of Islam." - BBC (April 5th 2004)

Fingers Crossed

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Our Way Of Freakin' Insanity

If nothing in the world has ever scared you before then this most certainly will. A quotation from the 'Our Way Of Life' website (image as well):

For those of you who cherish a very special way of life...If you're a member of a "minority," then our country's media will always present you in a positive context, and will celebrate your way of life. But what if you--and your ancestors--have consciously, willingly, and joyously built our traditions from within, rather than attacked them from without? What if you'd rather earn a living by contributing to our country than cash in on the privileges granted to those who declare themselves its "victims"? What if you've never celebrated a meaningless multicultural "holiday season," but you've always celebrated the spiritual richness of Christmas? What if you'd rather do what your sense of good and evil tells you is right than what your sense of political correctness tells you is inoffensive?

Read on it gets scarier. Visit the site, poke around a bit, buy a gun and hide in your fallout shelter 'cause these wackjobs are reallly out there.

Monday, July 18, 2005

Cha-Ching!

I knew that the latest Harry Potter book would be popular but this is a lil' nutty:

The new Harry Potter book sold an astonishing 6.9 million copies in its first 24 hours, smashing the record held by the previous Potter release. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" averaged better than 250,000 sales per hour, more than the vast majority of books sell in a lifetime. - MyWay.com (AP)

I imagine J.K. Rowling is going to celebrate by having a money fight:

...author JK ROWLING has added another $36 million (GBP20 million) to her fortune - only 24 hours after the sixth book of the boy wizard series went on sale. -Contactmusic.com